Team India’s long-term plan about re-drafting Anil Kumble in the shorter version have received a setback. The veteran leggie was certain to figure in the Champions Trophy squad to be announced next month, but after the shoulder injury suffered during his stint for Surrey means Kumble might have to wait a while for his ODI comeback.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to know the extent of Kumble’s injury with physio John Gloster away in London to attend a workshop but secretary Niranjan Shah didn’t seem worried. ‘‘Kumble did call me but he didn’t sound too worried. It is a case of tendonitis, nothing very serious. We have a lot of time on hand right now. With the selection for Champions Trophy and the tri-series in Malaysia on September 7, we can wait and watch,’’ he said.But the selectors wouldn’t take any chances even if they have the slightest doubt about Kumble’s fitness. As a national selector said, ‘‘Our main aim is the World Cup, he will play the Champions Trophy only if we are very sure (about his fitness).’’ Another selector was of the view that Kumble “can be included in the squad but later replaced by someone from the probables list of 30.” In a lighter vein, he added, ‘‘actually this new development makes our job simpler.’’In the wake of the washed out series in Sri Lanka, the selectors faced the dilemma of including Kumble in the squad that returned from the island without playing a game. But that brings to focus the very basic question: If Kumble was there in the scheme of things why wasn’t he selected for the Sri Lankan tri-series?Experts like L Sivaramakrishnan and Javagal Srinath had expressed surprise over Kumble’s exclusion for the Colombo tournament. ‘‘If he has to play the Champions Trophy or the World Cup, he should be in the thick of things in the ODIs too,’’ said Siva. Srinath too took the same line when he said, ‘‘Kumble not being there in the one-day team is inexplicable. He desperately wants to play one-day cricket. His inclusion is being unnecessarily delayed.”The selectors then had said Kumble was an experienced cricketer who was too precious to be wasted in a tri-series. To some extent that can be true but there was no justification in allowing Kumble to spend the summer in England. It is known that the load of every professional playing the county circuit is immense and the schedule hectic. Kumble, in the one month he spent at Surrey, bowled about 160 overs. And that came exactly after he had bowled 233 overs in the four-Tests in West Indies.The questions that need to be asked here are these: Why did Kumble, who is keen to play in the World Cup next year, take on this extra workload? Why did the BCCI allow him to do so? And if Cricket Australia and John Buchanan can call Shane Warne home for a pre-season boot camp, why was Kumble missing from the ‘military training’ in Bangalore?
